Rail-joint.



L EL ALLEN.' RAE JQINT. "APPLwAToN FILED AUG. 26,1909.

Mmmm Sem. 2L 19o@ W/WESSES l t JHN H. ALLEN, F VERONA, NEW J ER'SEY. I

BAEL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rammelt eene et, ieee,

Application filed August 26, 1908, Serial No. 450,307.

To :di whom it 'may concern;

Be it ltnmvn that l, Jeux lil. LLnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Verona, in the county of Essex and State oi New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ra il-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

T his invention relates to that class of rail joints known as continuons joints, and in which each connecting plate comprises an upright portion wedged between the headS and ianges of the rail ends and a lower V-ehapedportion adapted to clasp the said iianges,'two such connecting plates being employed one on each of the opposite sides of tbe rail ends and bolted together through the rails. I i

'The obiects of the present improvements are to secure a joint of this type whose base conforme to the general structure of a rail base, or a joint whose base becomes an cnlarged rail base; to secure distribution ot' metal in each connecting plate ot' such a `ioint at the points of greatest wear and strain; to reduce andv diii'uee the stress upon the metal in rolling the connecting plates; to bring'tlie neutral axis or" the joint up near the center oit' the rails; to thus secure equal parte or the joint, doing equal work, above and-below the neutral axis et the joint; and to obtain other advantages and results as ina-y be brought out in the following descriptien. v

Referring to the eocompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the saine parte in the Several tiguree, Figure .1. is' an end View ot' a rail joint embodyinp my improvements, the rail being,- in crosssection; Z ie a perspective view ot the joint, and Fig, 3 ie a perepoctive view of a single connecting plate fromits inner side.

in said drawin rs' 1 and 2 indicate two` adjacent rails, the ende of which moet as at 8, seid having tbe usual heada It with upper tread Surfer, 5 and lower upwardly and outwardly inclined' lateral bearing Snrecee 6, 6, vertical web 7., and lateral base langes 8, 8 each having adownwardly and outwardly sloping upper surface and at I es or bottoms forming 'the iat horizontal base of the rail. AA pair of my improved connectine'plates 11 are employed 'to torni a joint, onc'being placed at each side of 'the rails where their ende meetand bolts their under si 12. passed through said rail ends through these members 13 of the connectingand cnlatesthat the clamping bolts 12 of the rail f joint are passed.

At the lower edge of Said upright member 13 of the connecting plate is a laterally and outwardly extending V-shaped portion 15, providing between its upper and lower walls, 1G, 17 respectively, 1.) lo receive the base flange 8 of a rail. The said ll-shaped portion 15 thus grips the basetlange lj as the connectingplate is clamped to the rails, and the lower wall 17 of said il-shaped ortion lies portion 15 silente downwardly outward from the lower edge of the upright member 13 to itil point of union with the lower wall 17,

arallel to 'the rail base 10. e upper wal 16 of the V-.shaped whereby the inner surface 18 of said upper wall is at au' angle to the lower wall and gives the opening 19 of the V-shapedpor tion which receives the flange 8 of the' rail bose a ta ered form so that it wedges upon the said ange, The outer surface 20 of the upper wall 16 slants in a single plane from the upright member 13 tothe outer edge 21 of the V-sbaped portion, as shown, and it is this particular feature which forms an iinportant pant o1 my invention.

lt wil be noted that not only does my improved connecting plate presentv a radically diiiferent .form to be-rolled, in that the top of the Mshaped portion is perfectly plane, but furthermore the disposition of metal is widely different from what has been common heretofore. ln my connecting plate, the outer edge 21 of the V-shaped portion 15 is thick and strong to be slotted as at Q2 to receive holding spikes (not shown), and the bottom oit' the upright member 13 is also heavy andsolid, while the middle ofthe.

upper wall 1G of the ll-shaped portion, at the inner end of the space 19 for the lrail loofy moment of resistance.

ofresistance is multiplied by the amount of-l 'stress that may be allowed per square inch flange 8 is thinner. The .metal is thus distributed at those points Iwhere it is most needed for strength and rigidity,-viz., the

' betteln of the upright member 13 which resists the brunt of vertical strains, and the outer edge of the V-shaped portion l5 which resists lateral strains. l1`urtherniore, a crosssectional form of connecting plate is secured which .can lie rolled with less strain upon the'nietalthan heretofore, and also with simpler dies or rolls. The inished l' plates .are therefore. better adapted to resist hardservice both by reason of their adlvantageous distribution of metal, as well as by such metal having not been unduly strained in eil'ecting such distribution. Still further advantages of my improved connecting plateare that by its cbnstruction as' above set forth, the complete rail joint is given a vhase which conforms closely to the typlcalflanged base portion of a standard rail, and 4which is shaped and constructed to resist maximum strain with minimum metal. The neutralfaxis of therail joint is brought up' near the center of the rails, and equal portions of the joint are disposed above and n below said neutralaxis, doing equal Work. This secures long life of. the joint, and

" cal section'of. the joint, the fibers, are neither @these fibers -is-.called the neutral surface,-

extended nor compressed; the position of and the line where this neutral surface intersects a right section of the joint is the neutral axis of the'section. The neutral axis passes through the center of gravity of the section. If the moment of inertia of a rail joint is divided by the distance from the neutral axis to the extreme fiber, the fiber that is farthest from the axis, the quotient will be a quantity known as, the When this moment upon the extreme fiber, the product represents the elieiency of the joint to resist bending moment. The importance, therefore, is apparent of having equal resist-ance above and below the neutral axisf of the joint or having said neutral axis at as nearly the middle of the joint as possible. This is secured by the construction constituting the invention, and by it the neutral axis of the,

joint veryv closely coincides with the neutral axis of the rail itself, which insures great strength and resisting power and minimum liability of breakage under passing trains. T he rail joint. becomes in effect a rail section of increased cross .sectional area.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is r l. The herein described connecting plate for rail joints, comprising in one integral piece anupright member adapted to wedge under the head of a rail and a V-sha'ped portion disposed at its lower wall substantially f perpendicularvto said upright member and its upper wall joining at 'the'open edge of the V-portion the lower edge of the said up'- right member, the outer surface of said np- .per wall of the V-portion being plane from the said upright member to the outer edge of the connecting plate and said outer edge of the connecting plate being of a thickness substantially equal to that of the lower wall of the doubled or V-shaped portion.

' 2. The herein described .connecting plate for rail joints, comprising in one integral' piece an upright member adapted to wedge under the head of a rail and a V-shaped portion. disposed with its lower wall substantially perpendicular to said ,upright member and its upper wall .joining at the open ed e of the V-.portion the lower edge of the said upright member, the said V-shaped portionA having the outer surface of its top wall extending to the outer edge of the 'connecting plate at an angle to the outer surface of the i bottom wall greater than the angle of the inner surface of said top wall to said bottom wall of the V-shaped portionand the outer the said upright member t0 its intersection with the plane of the inner surface of the lower wall of the V-sha ed portion extended.

3. The herein described connecting plate for rail joints, comprising in one integral piece an upright member adapted to wedgeV under the head of a rail anda V-shapedpor- -tion disposed with its lower wall substantially perpendicular tosaid upright melnber and its upper wall joining at the upper edge of the V-portion the loweredge of said upright member, the outer surface of said upper' wall 4of the V-portionbeing-plane from the said upright member to the outer edge of the connecting plate, and the tapering re cess of the V-shaped' double port-ion having its narrow closed part located substantially half way between the said upright member and the outer edge of the connectino` plate and the inner surface of its upper wall lying in a plane which extended outwardly intersectsY the plane of the outer surface of the double portion at substantially the edge of Y the connecting plate and forms an acute angle therewith. l

4. A rail joint comprising in combination with the meeting ends of two rails connecting plates at the opposite sides of said rails, each connecting plate having an upright porl0() surface of said upper wall being plane from between fha. lv

i wall of the V-shaped *J1-wm the Said upright the connecting 20` being of a thickness 1.., he -puclmess of the lower orzon. fha neutral axis dng with the 'he Baie@ anges, the Outer if? the lxs and a lower doubled JUHN E. ALLEN;

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wih the mewiing am* 10 axis of the 35 right pmtou nfedgcff 

